


Five Years of This

by FluxBrain



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Original Aliens - Freeform, away mission gone awry, badass!Pavel, surly Bones, virgin Pavel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-01-17 16:37:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1394683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluxBrain/pseuds/FluxBrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Spock and Kirk get together, Bones is heartbroken but hiding it. He's shocked to find that the ship baby, Pavel Chekov, is the only person to recognize his pain. So begins a tentative friendship and something more. In which, Bones resists it all the way, in true Bones fashion and Pavel is just too adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unexpected Vodka

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, readers! This is my first time posting a fic on this site and I'm so excited about it. It couldn't have been anything but McChekov, the ship that brought me to this website the first time a few years ago.

When the door chimed, Dr. Leonard McCoy looked up from his empty bottle of bourbon. He’d polished off the very last bit of it, but it was nowhere near enough, considering the alarming revelation of the day.

“Go away, Dammit!”

Leonard had nearly sunk back into the bog of his thoughts when the chime came again. Slamming the empty bottle down on the counter, he grumbled under his breath before finally bidding the computer to unlock the door.

Expecting Jim’s ugly mug (beautiful face) to come bursting through the door and start screaming about something or other, when the door swooshed open Bones didn’t look up until several moments of silence had passed.

Seeing Ensign Pavel Chekov standing awkwardly in his entryway was the last thing the Doctor had expected. He blinked in surprise at the Ensign who grinned sheepishly in his direction, a slight blush on his pale cheeks.

“Can I help you with something Ensign?” Leonard’s eyes looked down to the bottle in Chekov’s hands and then back up to his face. Chekov rubbed the back of his neck.

“I vas just thinking that you might be in need of this,” Chekov gestured with the bottle. “It’s vodka, not you’re favorite I’m guessing, but it vas all I had.”

Leonard raised an eyebrow, standing and walking over to his young crewmate. He drew his palm down over his face and gave a long-suffering sigh.

“And why might you think that, Ensign?”

“Vell, vell… uh, after the ewents of the day… It was quite a shock, no? I thought that, maybe…” Chekov’s eyes darted toward the empty bottle on the table.  
Leonard paused. His quick wit was sinking into an ocean of horrified doubt.

“I don’t hate Spock that much kid, I’m just happy for Jim. And if that green-blooded hobgloblin wants to take on some of the burden for keeping his smart ass out of trouble, well then, I’m just thrilled.” He didn’t know what that damn kid was thinking, but he felt a bead of sweat forming on his temple.

“Ah, vell… maybe, I was mistaken. I had thought before… maybe zat you and the Keptin, not Mr. Spock, zat is—” Chekov stammered to a halt.

“No, kid! You got it all wrong, Jim and I were never... I was the only one who ever…” After a moment of looking to the ceiling and pinching the bridge of his nose, Leonard gave a soft grunt. He looked into Chekov’s sea green eyes and extended his hand, gesturing for the bottle. “Come on, sit down, I’ll pour ya one.”

Chekov walks further into the room like a deer crossing a meadow, careful with every step until he reaches the bar stool by the counter and pulls himself onto it. His feet dangle embarrassingly high from the floor.Bones grabs to short glasses and some ice, setting them down on the counter and taking the stool next to Chekov. He grabs the bottle and opens it will a pop, he goes to pour the clear liquid into Chekov’s glass, but stops, bottle poised.

“Kid, are you even eighteen yet?”

Chekov’s shy demeanor shifted into a conspiratorial grin, and he giggled.

“Not yet, but what does zat matter?” He curled his long, thin fingers around the neck of the bottle and pushed it down toward his glass. Leonard jerked it back when he thought the glass had a little too much for the slightly built young man.

“You can call me Pavel,” Chekov suggested as he took his glass to his lips and Leonard poured himself a tall drink.

“Alright, call me Leonard,” and what the hell, Leonard thought, why not get on a first name basis with one of Jim’s favorite pets. Especially since the boy had been so nice as to see through one of his greatest secrets and bring him a nice bottle of alcohol to dull the ache.

“You don’t, ah, you don’t have to say anythin’ about this business of mine about Jim, not exactly common knowledge, is it? Best not to cause any conflict, right Pavel?” Bones looked Pavel dead in the eye, he may be pathetically in love with his best friend, but don’t let anyone say that his Mother’s son was a coward about anything.

Pavel refilled his glass, cheeks already burning red from the alcohol, but when he looked into Leonard’s eyes his gaze was piercing. The sympathy in his eyes was so overwhelming that Leonard felt a sharp anger in his stomach at the sight, but it quelled at the absolute sincerity of it, the complete absence of pity.

“Of course, Leonard.” Pavel put his hand on Leonard shoulder, the touch was light, barely there, but it sent a warmth through him that he hadn’t felt in a long while.

“Well don’t you look bluer than a dog who’s lost his master? No need to be that way with a nice drink in your hands, kid,” Leonard raised his glass, “Cheers to unexpected vodka and underage drinking.”

“Cheers,” Pavel clinked his glass against Leonard’s. The corners of his mouth were curled up just slightly, but his eyes were suddenly bright. They were warm, like the Georgia sun, when Leonard was still young enough to enjoy it.

“So… I heard that you finally solved Ensign Curtis’ strange allergic reaction to Orion pheromones?” Pavel openly grinned now.

“Well the rash was easy enough to soothe, but damn if figuring out why that poor sucker turned purple was somethin’ else entirely.” Leonard chuckled despite himself. This kid, he thought, knew him too well for being near strangers.

“I tell you what though,” Leonard continued, “that kid is sure as hell lucky he has a good reason to stay away from those Orion women. More trouble than they’re worth, Jim should know. You just take a lesson from him on that one.”

Pavel takes on an affronted air, theatrically slapping his palm against his chest.

“Don’t you vorry my good Doctor, I am completely unaffected by their, ah, womanly wiles,” Pavel burst out into hysterical laughter, clearly more than tipsy at this point.

Leonard couldn’t help but laugh too. Internally though, Leonard raised an eyebrow. Ah, hell, this kid was too much.


	2. Pavel and Co.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented, bookmarked, and gave me kuddos! It gives me warm fuzzies. 
> 
> As always, I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine. I hope you enjoy it.

“Bones!” Jim Kirk sprinted down the hall after him like a kid, clasping him on the shoulder, “Spock and I missed you at dinner last night. Our game of 3D chess got intense. You missed me whop his ass.”

  
“I don’t want to see you doin’ anythin’ to Spock’s ass and I doubt that pointy-eared bastard missed my pretty face at all.”

  
“Oh, Bonesy! What were you up to anyway? Doing some “overtime” with Nurse Chapel?” Jim wiggles his eyebrows.

  
“Dammit Jim! Not everyone is so goddamn insatiable. Chapel is a damn fine nurse and I won’t have—”

  
Jim waves his hands, and Bones roles his eyes at him. “What have you been up to though Bones?! Long time no see.”

  
“You see me every day, and whenever you’re injured, or sick, or having an allergic reaction, or… you get the point! That’s too much already, dammit. I’ll have you know that I’ve been getting to know your main bridge crew a little better. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  
“Not playing the cranky old hermit anymore Bones? I’m shocked.” Jim’s eye’s gleamed playfully, and if that didn’t send a pang through Leonard’s bone marrow.

  
“Yeah, well…” Bones was doing his damnedest not to internally wax lyrical about those eyes and the immature man behind them. He stamped his emotions down with the best of them, no time to stop now.

  
“Len! Come sit vith us.” Pavel’s gleeful attitude shone through the cafeteria. He gestured to his table, where he sat with Sulu and a few of the younger crewmembers from engineering.

  
Leonard nods in the kid’s direction, chancing a glance back at Jim to find his boyish grin barely contained by his face. He mouths a surprised “Len” and then laughs, “Go to the kiddie table then!”

  
Feeling that if he rolls his eye’s one more time they’ll detach themselves from his skull, Leonard adopts his trademark scowl and walks away without a word.

  
“Doctor McCoy, nice of you to join us,” Sulu flashes a grin a his way, “I was just telling Pavel about the Idystal plant we discovered on Artura a few weeks ago. I understand it has many medicinal properties.”

  
“Err.. yeah,” Leonard sat down next to Pavel, leaning over him to talk to the multi-talented pilot. “I submitted a study about its healing qualities to Star Fleet, they’re looking into it. I take it you’re growing some in the botany lab, Mr. Sulu? Always good to have on hand, I appreciate it.”

  
“Oh, no one’s interested in your newest plant project Hikaru, I think we’d all be more interested to hear Dr. McCoy’s inside gossip about the Captain and Mr. Spock,” Yeoman Rand settled down next to an Ensign from engineering.

  
“Janice!” The alarm on Pavel’s face was almost amusing enough to quell the alarm in Leonard’s stomach. “I doubt Len wants to gossip about his friends.” The whole table looks to Leonard.

  
“Well… I wouldn’t go as far as to say Spock is my friend, but the kid’s got it right otherwise. You kids and your gossip,” Leonard waves his hand, “the Captain and his XO, I’m just as shocked as ya’ll.”

  
Well that was the wrong answer. Ten pairs of eyes looked at him like they were seeing some new cosmic anomaly. Damn kids. Being friends will Pavel was beginning to be more trouble than he had anticipated, but it was too late—now that the crew didn’t duck out of sight at his very presence.

  
Seems Pavel spread it around that he wasn’t such as surly bastard as they had thought. It’d taken him decades to perfect the scary doctor routine and now it was all shot to hell by a pretty little Russian and his smile.

  
“What are my geniuses plus Bones talking about today? Got anything special I can brag to the Admiral’s about in my next report?” Jim stood with his fists on his hips, surveying the table like a lion surveys his pride.

  
Spock stood behind him, for all appearances bored, except for the slight twitch of his brow. Leonard wanted to drown himself in his glass of water for recognizing the Vulcan’s expression of affection toward Jim.

  
“Well, I’m needed in the Medbay. Don’t know when ya’ll ever work, but someone around here has to be responsible.” Leonard gets up, and peruses the table for a victim. “Ensign Jones!” the poor kid actually jumped off his seat, “Don’t forget your appointment at 1600.” There, he can break this nice image if he puts his mind to it.

  
“Later, Bones.” Jim Kirk, what a charming fucker.

  
“Bye, Len!” And the ship baby, with his soft curls framing his cherub face. Five years of this was going to kill him, slowly and painfully.

  
This has absolutely nothing with the soaring joy in his chest when Pavel walks into his office a few hours later.

  
“What brings you here, Pav? Didn’t fry a neural circuit being a genius, did you?” Leonard rubs the stubble on his jaw at Pavel’s slight blush at the compliment.

  
“We’ve been ahead of schedule, so the Captain has let us stop at a most interesting planet! I’m part of the away team, but I’m not up to date on my vaccinations from last time.”

  
“Oh business visit then. Did Chapel already give you a hypo, or you want me to do it?” Leonard sat back in his seat, eyebrows raised.

  
“Oh, I’d, uh, prefer you to do it?” Leonard just laughed.

  
“You’re not scared of a hypo, are you Pav?” Leonard reached into his Medkit and pulled out the appropriate vaccination, telling himself it was normal for a doctor to have patient records memorized.

  
When he plunges the hypo into Pavel’s neck he tries not to notice his warm skin and jumping pulse. He didn’t need this at the moment. His life was imploding for the second time. There was no room for Pavel’s baby face. After all these years, he was probably just lonely. Aching for someone to send a smile his way. That’s how Jim got him, and he wasn’t about to let that happen again.

  
“Thanks, Len! Ven I come back, I vill tell you all about the planet. Ve think that there is intelligent life and I detected a warp signature! Very weak, but they may join the Federation.

  
“Well, I’m sure you can convince them to join us, kid. Now get out of my office, I’ve got several data files of paperwork to go blind over.”


	3. The Almost Redshirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the away mission! But don't worry, "real" Star Trek plots will only briefly interrupt our scheduled cheesy romancing.

Pavel’s taut stomach thrummed with excitement as he waited in the transporter room for the rest of the away team to arrive. He tugged idly at the bottom of his shirt as Mr. Spock, who had arrived even before Pavel, was quietly ensuring that his equipment was properly calibrated. 

At precisely the correct time of 1100, Lieutenant Uhura strode gracefully into the room, her ponytail softly swinging behind her and Starfleet issue boots tapping lightly on the floor. She directed a broad smile toward Pavel, eyes not glancing, even for a moment, at Spock. Who had, upon her entrance, lifted his head and quirked an eyebrow before returning his focus to his softly beeping machines. 

“Hello, Lieutenant. Are you excited for the mission?” 

“Yes, the language of the natives we’ve contacted is quite complex and nuanced. I had quite the time puzzling it out.” 

“I doubt any language poses any real threat to your comprehension, Uhura!” Captain Kirk exclaimed with a wink as he sauntered into the room. 

Spock’s lips quirked ever so slightly into a smile. The rest of his face remained passive, but his eyes were fully intent on the Captain, his finicky equipment now a secondary thing. 

Jim clapped his hands together. “Are we all ready?” Not waiting for a response, he continued, “Lieutenant Martinez! Stand by to beam us down.”

They climbed on the transporter platform, stilling themselves as they felt the sizzle of their bodies being converted into the energy of the beam. 

As soon as they found themselves solid on the surface of the planet, the realized they were surrounded by a squadron of men with large phaser-like devices. Pavel had the sneaking suspicion that, whatever they were, they were not set to stun. 

Their apparent leader stepped forward. Compared to the others, he was fairly small in stature, but still taller than Spock. They were humanoid, tall and lanky—like humans who had been stretched like taffy. Their skin was an ombré from dark brown in the center of their bodies to terracotta orange at their fingertips. Their hair was shining white and their eyes a shocking green. 

Uhura called out to the leader in their fluid language; the words flowed from her mouth like cool water. The leader motioned to his people to lower their weapons and approached the away team. 

Pavel pulled out his universal translator, which had been enhanced by Uhura’s comprehension of the language, but would still put a significant block in communication. It reduced the beautiful language to choppy Standard. 

“Welcome. Forgive the sight of weapons before you. Our enemies are near. Danger is near. Now you are near. For that, we are grateful.” The man completed an intricate set of gestures, which Uhura signaled to be a peaceful action.

Captain Kirk walked up to the leader and bowed before beginning to speak into his own UT. “Thank you. On the behalf of the United Federation of Planets, we seek to find peace with you and ask you to join us.” 

After all formalities were exchanged, a group of political figures of the planet, the Captain, and his XO were whisked away to a conference meeting. Uhura and Pavel were left to converse with the locals in the town square. 

Pavel, however, became captivated by the foliage of the multicolored forest that surrounded the town. He had promised Hikaru that he would collect as much data as possible—maybe even snag a few samples. 

\---

Leonard surveyed the medbay. All the biobeds were in order. All of the surgical tools were fine-tuned. He’d checked and rechecked everything. It’d become a habit of his during every away mission—especially since Jim went on most of them, but also because of his doctor’s heart. He couldn’t stand anyone on his crew getting injured or sick—he was meant to keep them all healthy, dammit! 

This time though, he was even more nervous than usual. Bones was worried enough as it was with Jim, Uhura, and even god-forbid Spock, but Pavel had done a hell of a number on him. As much as Jim was always getting himself into deep shit, at least he had that wild child, devil may care attitude about it all. But now, sitting there, all Bones could think about was Pavel’s tiny, easily snapped bones and the speed it would take for poison to travel up his short arteries and into his heart. 

He clenched and unclenched his fists, compulsively scanning the inventory list one more time. Startling him out of it with a gentle cough, Chapel gave him a disapproving look. Frowning right back at her only made her laugh—his grumpy act had never worked on her, not once. 

Sighing, he got up, intending to go back to his quarters and pretend not to be completely tensed up, when Sulu’s voice came over the intercom.   
“Away team is beaming up. Possible injuries. Headed your way Doc.”

“Jesus Christ.” 

\--  
“Goddamn it, Jim. What—What the hell were you even thinking?!” Leonard’s eyes were blazing with a fury only he could muster.

“Doctor, I assure you that the Captain and I—” Spock took a step forward, subconsciously shielding Jim. 

“No, Spock, frankly I don’t give a damn. I’m just a little concerned that Pavel here isn’t moving!” All eye’s shifted to the Ensign’s form as he lay silent. Eventually, Jim and Spock looked back to Leonard, but Leonard’s eyes stayed in place. 

“It was just a weird looking juice, Bones! They said it’d be fine! And you said yourself that the DNA samples we gathered show enough biological similarity to us that this shouldn’t have happened.”

“Well then how come I don’t see you lying on a biobed!? Maybe it should be the Captain’s job to drink unidentified liquids instead of having—”

“Bones.” Jim’s voice held a steel threat beneath it. Bones knew he had pushed too far, but he was still angry dammit. 

“Fine, fine. You got me. Just get out of here while I fix everything, again.” Leonard waved his hand at them and turned to the medical apparatus hooked up to Pavel’s biobed. 

“Just like always, then.” Kirk claps Bones on the shoulder, and signals Spock to follow him out as he walks out of the Sick bay. 

Looking at Pavel’s vitals, Leonard fights the urge to be calmed by their normality, knowing with an alarming pain in his stomach that this only meant he was that much further from knowing what was wrong.

He steps away from the biobed, retreating to his office to research the possible causes and cures. Within ten minutes, though, Leonard has already stopped convincing himself that his distracted fidgeting wasn’t for Pavel—a singularity of occurrences in all the patients he had ever treated. 

Nurse Chapel gave him a knowing smirk when he dragged a chair out to sit by Pavel, resuming his previous efforts with heightened focus. 

He continued researching through two shifts of nurses, bidding the night shift nurses to go back to their quarters—that he intended to stay through their shift too. Periodically, he got up to check Pavel’s vitals, or run a new test. When he felt his eyes sliding directionless over the blurry words of his PADD, he finally set it down. Resting his head back on the wall, Leonard fell asleep to the soft beeping of the biobed. 

In the morning, Bones jerked awake to the hustle of nurses and the bright lights of the Sick bay. He ran a hand through his hair and picked up his PADD, looking down at the article he hadn’t finished the night before. 

Slowly, the vague shape of an idea began to form itself in his head. He quickly looked over Pavel’s neural activity and the several brain scans he had taken over the course of the night. He had found the amount of activity odd with the assumption that Pavel was unconscious, but now he understood that this couldn’t be the case at all.

“Pavel, can you hear me?” A spike in neural activity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like 2 years. Someone just reminded me this existed. Here we go again.


	4. Story Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pavel is conscious but not moving. Bones takes it upon himself to entertain him. And maybe Spock can help?

“Well kid, it seems like you’re stuck for the moment, so I figure I had better keep you entertained before that genius brain of yours dies of boredom.” 

After the initial insight that Pavel was conscious, Bones had pretty much put his finger on the problem—the solution, however, was posing a bit more of a problem. After beaming up a sample of that “weird juice” as Jim had put it, and talking it over with some of the local doctors on the planet below, the culprit appeared to be a compound that, in the locals, produced a mild inebriation, but was in fact toxic to humans. 

At this information, Bones’ first thought was “at least, this one isn’t just allergic to every damn thing”—a thought which Bones attributed mainly to his own exhaustion and filed away in the “let’s never revisit this” folder of his brain. Following this brief pause, Bones started to attack the problem head on. 

However this compound was interacting with Pavel’s brain chemistry, it had produced the most acute mimic of a comatose state that Bones had ever seen. Not that it kept him from beating himself up for not recognizing it immediately—for letting Pavel stew alone in his own mind for God knows how many hours. 

The only response to Bones’ quip was a slight wiggle on the brain wave monitor—small, but reassuring as hell. 

“So, I figure I’m not much of a story teller, but I guess a few yarns about Georgia will have to do…”

Pavel’s brain waves jumped up. Bones just chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah, I know—you’re always asking after my personal history. Guess I’m just guilty now that it’s come to this…But, aw hell, anyway, I do have a good story about my brother and I as kids, trying to Huck Finn it down the local creak—

Now… I bet you don’t know anything about Huck Finn do you? That’s an old, old book, but you can’t really get more Southern than that. Mark Twain, that’s the author now, would probably have gotten into some damn funny conversations with that Dostoevsky of yours… Anyway, so my brother and I…”

\--------  
“Bonesey!”

“Jesus Christ, Jim! You just about gave me a damn heart attack.” Bones had been telling Pavel story after story, just passing the time as he ran tests and researched possible cures. He was just as relaxed as he could be, considering Pavel was lying still on the biobed and all. 

“Hey! Was that a story about little tiny baby Bonesy? I can never get you to un-clam about that stuff. Should I try getting paralyzed?” Jim’s apparent mirth didn’t hide the fact that he had been coming at regular intervals to check on Pavel. At Jim’s heels, Spock just raised a brow. 

“Jim, you have enough medical emergencies for three Starfleet officers. If you get yourself paralyzed I swear I’ll never talk to you again.” Bones scrunched his face and ran a hand over it—more out of habit than true frustration at this point.

“Doctor. I have come to the realization that I may be of some service in your endeavor to treat Ensign Chekov.” Spock, straight to business as always, but in this case Bones appreciated it. 

“And how might that be Mr. Spock?” Bones raised his own brow to match Spock’s, Jim looking between the two, apparently amused by their interactions as always. 

“As I am sure you are aware, Vulcans possess the ability to meld minds. I thought perhaps it would be prudent to interview Ensign Chekov as to his perception of his current state.”

Bones gave a slow blink. 

“You can talk to him? Dammit, why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?” Bones shot an accusing glance at Jim, who just raised his hand in his patented “but Bones, why is everything my fault?” stance. 

“’Talk’ is perhaps an imprecise definition of what a mind meld—“

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You can give me the lecture notes later. Right now, I just need you see how he’s doing.” Bones’ mind was flying at warp 7. 

“…Yes. Are there a list of standard questions you would like me to relay?” Spock simply ignored Bones’ interruption, as per usual. 

“Just ask him how he’s doing in there. How much of his body he can feel. If he has any pain or anything. Ask him if his nose itches.” Bones hoped to God Pavel was all right, alone in that big brain of his. 

“If his…. nose…. itches, Doctor? I’m not sure how that’s medically relevant.” Spock glanced at Jim, who just gave him a slight chuckle in return. 

“Well, that’s why I’m the Doctor then, right Spock?” Bones slaps Spock on the back and pushes him toward the biobed. 

\----

“Well? How is he?” Bones had been pacing back and forth for the ten minutes, while Spock communicated with Pavel—snapping to attention the moment Spock stood up. 

“He seems emotionally very stable, and states that he can feel his whole body and that there is no pain.” 

That was certainly a relief for Bones to hear, but there was something strange in Spock’s eyes—something he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“Something else Spock?” Bones frowned. He was usually pretty good at figuring out what emotions were going on behind that ever-arched eyebrow, but this was new. 

“I believe he also wishes to express gratitude for your company.” Spock gave a short nod to him and walked out of the room. 

“Huh. Mind explaining that?” Bones looked at Jim, who seemed just as puzzled. 

“I don’t know…” Jim rubbed his chin. “If it was important, Spock would have said. It’s probably just the mind meld—a lot of transference you know. He generally only likes to meld with me.” 

Jim didn’t seem so sure. 

“Well, see ya later Bones, let me know if there are any changes.” Jim left, presumably to go find Spock.

It occurred to Bones a while later that once upon a time hearing about Jim and Spock’s mind melds would have put him off his dinner for sure. After pondering if for a few moments, he just supposed that he was too worried about Pavel right now to care. Too worried, in fact, that he didn’t hear the warning bells going off in his brain about what that might mean.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it! This work is unbetaed so all mistakes are mine. 
> 
> The plan is to post a chapter a week, so stay tuned.


End file.
